Captain Chris Walker had a mixed afternoon as England Under-20s lost 27-12 to Ireland at the University of Western Cape in South Africa, and will next face Australia for seventh place in the International Rugby Board Junior World Championship.

The Otley loanee from Leeds Carnegie scored one of England’s two tries - his first at this level - but was sin-binned after 55 minutes, Ireland landing a penalty while he was off to extend their lead to 20-5.

Walker said: “We’re frustrated with the result but ultimately we gave ourselves too much to do.

“I felt like we had a lot of possession, particularly in the second half, but a few too many errors sneaked into our game and that’s what has cost us.

“We still have Australia to play and that’s a game we’re desperate to win. We’ll review this game before focusing all of our attention on them and hopefully doing the rose proud.”

Walker’s clubmate Dominic Barrow also played the whole match.